Touron

High school (ages 12+)
Environment & Earth

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/touron

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the rock classification?Intrusive igneous rock, typically phaneritic in texture
2. What is the cooling rate?Extremely slow, often spanning hundreds of thousands to millions of years
3. How do tourons form?They form when magma stays underground for hundreds of thousands to millions of years, cooling slowly so large crystals can grow.
4. Why are tourons important to scientists?Tourons keep a record of ancient Earth conditions, letting scientists learn about past temperatures, pressures, and ages of the crust.

Phaneritic Texture: A texture in igneous rocks characterized by large, visible mineral crystals formed during slow cooling.
Thermobarometry: The study of mineral assemblages to determine the temperature and pressure conditions of their formation.
Radiometric Dating: A method used to determine the age of rocks and minerals using the decay rates of radioactive isotopes.
Batholith: A very large mass of intrusive igneous rock that has been exposed by erosion.